Your home internet service is similar to a nice car or running water — you rely on it, you take it for granted, and if it ever cuts off, suddenly the whole family is in a pickle! I can’t help you plan for every household emergency, but here’s some food for thought about your internet access. If you ever have a major internet outage, maybe these braindroppings will help you get back online ASAP.
And this advice is intended for a prolonged outage. Let’s say, you forgot to pay your internet bill, and the ISP is claiming it takes 5 business days to reinstate you. Or perhaps a utility company sawed through a conduit three blocks away, and the experts can’t start repair until next week. For brief outages, I would just send you to the coffeeshop. Consider these tactics for longer periods:
Turn Your Phone into a Mobile Hotspot
Many cellphones will turn into a mobile hotspot. If you ever plan to do this, make sure ahead of time that your phone is capable. iPhone owners can check out these steps, while Android users can try these. If your phone doesn’t allow for this, you can talk with your cellular company to ask why.
Using your phone as a Wi-Fi access point is usually easy, but has its drawbacks. The speed may be considerably less than your terrestrial internet service. The Wi-Fi range may not cover your entire home. And if you have to leave with your cellphone, you’ll be taking the internet away from the other homebodies.
Borrow from Your Public Library
While almost all public libraries offer free on-site Wi-Fi, I have something else to mention. Your public library might offer you internet that you can borrow and take home. They may allow you to check out a mobile hotspot, just like you would a book or movie.
Not all libraries offer this yet. In my region, these library systems offer hotspot borrowing:
The Handley Regional Library System
At this time, the Shenandoah County Library System does not offer such, but they are considering it. If you talk to your library, you may want to encourage them to add this to their offerings!
Contract for Mobile Broadband or a Dedicated Hotspot
In the event of an internet outage, I would hope you wouldn’t have to throw money at the problem. But if you don’t have free options, and your household simply can’t function without internet service, you may have to consider going to your cellular provider for a paid solution.
T-Mobile, ATT and Verizon (and others) would likely set you up with a dedicated hotspot, when asked. It’s worth asking them if they could provide you with a trial or a loaner… but expect that there will be an equipment charge and a monthly fee.
Also keep in mind that the big three cellular firms are very interested in selling you their home internet service. You may not want to switch ISPs, but you could “try out” their home internet, for as long as the trial period lasts… and then return the equipment before you incur an expense.